Taking A Chance

• Britney Penpraze, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2011

What was once a beautiful life now is death. What was once a fun loving little girl, is now an unhappy teenager. We take life for granted, and we push our loved ones away. Well this is exactly what Nicole Weddel did. Every day she would bully other children in the school yard, she would ask her parents for things that she didn’t need, she would push her younger brother over for no reason and she had no friends because of all these ridiculous things. To Nicole the world was her world. She was on top. She hated everyone and she took them for granted... Until now.
It was a stormy Wednesday at Clipperton High school. Nicole had black, long wavy hair and blue eyes that where greedy. Surprisingly she was quite skinny (for she ate like a pig) and she was extremely tall. Nicole was in Year eight. She ate at the lunch tables alone; she sat at the back of the class and she walked around the school, head held up high thinking she was all that. But really Nicole felt depressed and alone. When she was in Primary school she got bullied because of being abnormally tall and not having any friends. Then her family moved to Whitehorse in North America and that’s what changed her perspective on life. Why should she have to suffer and no one else has to. So she began to listen to emo music that her parents hated. She got piercings on her tongue, upper lip, nose, belly and on her both of her eyebrows. She dyed her hair black and started wearing dark clothing. She slithered out of the family and into the dark. This is where all the trouble started from.
In biology Nicole sat at the back of the class room listening to her iPod like always. She was thinking of which kid she would bash up when she saw the teacher walking up the isle to her desk. Wishing she could get this over and done with, she pushed her knees up to her chest and threw her hoodie over her head. Pushing the volume button on her iPod up fully, she closed her eyes and hoped that he wasn’t coming to her. But she felt her hoodie fly of her head and saw Mr. Darnley kneeling next to her tears in his eyes. ‘Oh what now’ she thought and took out her ear phones. “What?” she told him in a harsh and annoyed tone. Mr. Darnley replied in a small and secretive tone “I am so very sorry Nicole.” More tears and sniffles coming from Mr. Darnley “You’re parents and younger brother have just been killed in a car crash on the free way.” Nicole looked at him and was speechless. The first tear from years came rolling down her face. “They’re gone forever?” she noted in a whisper. Nicole let the tears come streaming down her face. Her chest was tight and her heart was sobbing loudly. “Oh My God” she panted in a rushed and shaky voice.
Nicole went to the ER to see her family’s corpses. When she saw them laying there like ghosts she had to turn away and began exploding with tears. The last words she ever said to her mother was ‘I hate you’ after she wouldn’t give her the money to go to the movies. Nicole new it was a stupid thing now. From that day Nicole had gotten her old blond hair and bright personality back. She was always ready and exited about life. Nicole moved from North America to Africa where her Aunt lived. She would volunteer at the shelter where the kids who don’t have a family would go. She always smiled and had millions of friends. This is how Nicole liked life and wish it was always like this...
From that day on Nicole never took anything for granted. She loved life. But the one thing she always regretted was the way she treated her family and the people around her. Nicole prayed to god every night and wished upon millions of stars that she had her family back. Nicole was now a sweet, down to earth 15 year old girl once again.